Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1887-12-01
Agricultural Pests.
Yonth,s Comnanion.

The pests of the farmes are chiefly of
lowest forms Of animal or of vegetable
life. They prey upon beth animals and
plants. As in the case of many forms of
human disease, they are the invisible
germs of growth fatal to the system upon
which they fasten, and at the expense of
which they thrive. Mildew, mould, rust
on the stalk, and smut ia the kernel of
grain are familiar examples of this per-
nicious vegetation. Epidemic diseases
among cattle, snch as the rinderpest and
the foot-and- mouth disease, are prubab-
" due to bacilli similar to those that oc-
casion consumption among mankind.
The necessity of providing against tn )
ravsges OF these pests is now recognized
by all the leading governments. Any
thing like effective measures against them
nc ust be concerted and universal in APP
plication.
The interchange of products has spread
these pests from their original homes in
TO every quarter of the globe where any
thing grows or lives that they can prey
upon. It is to be observed that the vital
ty of most of these germs survives every
degree of heat and cold. Their diminu-
tive proportions protect them against all
external violence.
An article in Nature upon these pests
says: sit is mooted point as to wheth-
er their ravages are due, or not, to nod
ern and more artificial systems of guilty.
alton, which may be more favorable 20
the spread of insects and parasitic fungi.
Or it may be that these new systems in
terfere with the balance of nature by
decreasing parasitic and other insects,
and birds and other animals, which are
the natural foes of curious insects"
Upon the first point it may be said
that many appearances favor the CON
clusion that both high cultivation and
low cultivation tend TO promote the raw
ages of pests. In the former case the
rapid development of the cell formation
exposes most delicate tissues to the at
tacks of parasitic growth.
In the latter case, with low cultivation,
the tissues are not developed with suffici-
ent vigor to resist the the attacks of dis
ease, and they are a. sure and easy prey
to the parasites that feed upon them.
AS to the supposition that the balance
of nature has been interfered with, this
may be admitted without proof. That
balance is SO delicately poised, and our
methods Of working are SO bland and in
considerate at the best, that the wonder
is that so little mischief has as yet been
done. But the increased frequency and
fatality of blight testifes directly TO this
| fact.
The coffee-mildew did no serious harm
| in the coffee plantations of Ceylon until
after 1870, but within the last ten years it
has greatly diminished their yield.
Hop-bl1ghts are said to be far more
common and destructive in England now
than they were fifty years ago. This pest
has been introduced into this country
only within a few years, and yet 1t last
year destroyed the crop upon nearly 49,
900 acres.
The potato-rot appeared in England in
1874, and the Colorado beetle has found
his way across the ocean with scarcely
one seasons delay. 1t is said that the
! orange growers of Florida, California and
other places are at their wits end to com
bat the ravages of scale insects, which
have greatly increased since 1870.
Our cultivated plants and domesticated
animals have been removed by US from
the care of nature, and with perfect right
appeal to humane compassion for de-
Tense against the attacks of enemies to
which our treatment has exposed them.